Tennessee

January 14, 2010

Update: The deal with David Cutcliffe fell through and Tennessee is expected to hire Derek Dooley of Louisiana Tech.

David Cutcliffe, who was an assistant at Tennessee from 1983-98 and 2006-07, is Tennessee's likely choice as its new coach, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Cutcliffe, 55, has spent the past two seasons at Duke, leading the Blue Devils to records of 4-8 and 5-7. Before his arrival, Duke was the worst program in a Bowl Championship Series conference for a 10-year span, with only 13 victories over Division I-A teams.

Cutcliffe was Mississippi's coach from 1998-2004, going 44-29. The Rebels played in five bowl games, winning four.

He has a reputation for developing quarterbacks, having coached Heath Shuler, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and Erik Ainge.

"I'm not going to get into that," he said, adding, "I make tremendously strong ties with families in recruiting. I always try to guide them in the right direction and provide information to them to help some young men who are wondering, 'Coach, what can I do? What are my options?'

"All I did was present their options. Families call me. I call them. I had answers. I gave them answers to their questions."

Former Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin gave a radio interview with "The Sports Animal" in Knoxville on Wednesday morning. Kiffin offered details into how the move to L.A. came about, and you can listen to the interview by clicking here.

January 13, 2010

The Knoxville-based show "Eleven O'Clock Rock!" wasted no time is making fun of Lane Kiffin's brief appearance before the news media Tuesday. Plus other reaction from around the Internet after the jump.

Reaction to Lane Kiffin's decision to leave Tennessee after only one season to become coach at USC:

Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: What was USC athletic director Mike Garrett thinking? This question, of course, is based on the large and dangerous assumption that he was actually thinking. On the contrary, in handing his heavyweight USC team to lightweight Lane Kiffin, Garrett has seemingly lost his mind.

Mike Strange, Knoxville News Sentinel: When it came time for Kiffin to address the Tennessee media, spokesman Bud Ford informed the TV folks there would be no live cameras — or else Kiffin wasn't coming. WBIR news director Bill Shory wouldn't stand for it. There was shouting. The print and radio folks figured a little Kiffin was better than no Kiffin. "He's a snake,'' offered Mark Packer of WVLT.